Fidelity - SF6

  Fidelity

  In Fidelity, the new lovers are forced to determine if absence really does make the heart grow fonder. Jamie’s headed to Rhode Island to back-up her vow to spend more time with her mother, and Ryan’s going to Santa Cruz to prepare for the upcoming volleyball season.

  A week isn’t a long time when it’s measured against a lifetime commitment, but in the “can’t breathe without you” stage of their nascent relationship they view their separation with a mixture of dread and resignation.

  One person who’s very happy to have the couple separated is Jamie’s father. He takes the opportunity to make his objections to their bond more than clear—in his usual manipulative way.

  Part 1

  Early on a Monday morning in August, a young blonde woman slowly became cognizant of the world around her. Her eyes had not yet opened to greet the day, but that did not prevent her from taking in a great deal of information about her environment.

  Shifting her body slightly, she refreshed her nerve endings, allowing them to recognize the surfaces they had been in contact with. Her right hand informed her brain that it rested on a warm, soft plane that was moving in a slow, steady cadence–up and down, up and down. As a small smile settled onto her face, the woman realized that her hand rested on her lover’s stomach, which chose that moment to rumble, signaling that it was time for breakfast.

  The message from her right leg conveyed that her knee was pressed up against a cushioning tuft of curly hair, and it didn’t take her brain long to recognize the familiar sensation. She moved her leg slightly, delighting in the soft tickle that the wiry curls caused.

  Before she opened her eyes, she consciously filled her lungs with the scent of her lover. The aromatic notes that wafted up from the body that she loved always made her senses reel, and today was no different. Her partner had run around like a hyperactive child the day before, the energy rolling off of her in waves. When she'd finally collapsed shortly after nine o’clock, it was all Jamie could do to peel the clothes off her body and get her under the sheet. That being the case, Ryan had not showered before bed, and now all of the various elements that made up her natural scent surrounded the very appreciative blonde woman.

  The artificial aromas that usually adorned Ryan’s body were long gone. Her hair no longer smelled of ginger and green tea, and the light scent of soap was completely absent. In place of the artificial, the natural aromas were allowed to shine. Jamie often wished that Ryan would use only unscented personal care products, but her partner liked the scent of the items she used, not sharing Jamie’s fondness for her own fragrance. Therefore, the smaller woman had to wait for opportunities like this one–which were all too rare for her tastes.

  Breathing in the distinctive, spicy scent, she let the various notes fill her senses, her head moving slowly to allow every element to reach her olfactory bulb. From the pattern of her breathing and the muscular tension she could feel in the warm body, Jamie knew that her partner was awake. She also knew that Ryan knew that she was awake, the perceptive woman never missing a trick. But over their weeks together they had developed the habit of lying together quietly in the morning, generally not speaking until they wished or needed to arise, and she had no desire to change that pattern today.

  Jamie loved this quiet time together, and cherished each moment. Sometimes she woke almost an hour before they needed to get out of bed, and she was always happy to sense that it was still dark out, since that meant more time communing with Ryan’s body.

  When she thought of it, that’s exactly what she was doing–she was experiencing Ryan’s body. Allowing the warm, soft, strong, powerful aura of her partner to fill her up–to nourish her soul before the events of the day slowly drained her reserves. It wasn’t that their days were particularly stressful–they weren’t. It was just that these stolen minutes of their busy day refreshed her spirit in a way nothing else ever had, and she guarded them zealously.

  Feeling the sun begin to warm the room, Jamie knew that they would have to rise soon, and she forced one eye open to see how wide awake her partner was. Not surprisingly, Ryan’s bright blue eyes were fully open and an adorable half-smile graced her handsome face. Unable to contain her curiosity, Jamie uttered the first words of the day, "Whatcha thinking about?"

  A deep, rumbling chuckle preceded Ryan’s reply. "Who says I’m thinking?"

  "You’re always thinking, Love," Jamie correctly declared. "I can see those blue eyes darting, and can almost hear you thinking. What’s going on in that pretty head?"

  Letting out a heavy sigh, Ryan said, "I don’t feel like I’m thinking, Love. I feel like I’m feeling."

  That enigmatic reply didn’t shed much light, so Jamie tried again. "Okay, what are you feeling?"

  Ryan turned her head, locking her gaze onto her partner, the intensity of her crystal eyes a little startling this early in the morning. "I’m feeling happy," she said with a voice full of conviction.

  "Happy?" Jamie asked softly, feeling like her very soul was being lured into those hungry blue eyes.

  "Yes, happy," Ryan declared. "Happier than I can ever remember being. Happier than I was as a child when I would lie in bed and make my plans for the future. Happier than I ever thought I could be." Her head dipped just enough to be able to capture the coral-tinted lips that had automatically moved closer. Several tender, emotion-filled kisses followed, the final kiss softer than a sigh. "You make me happy, Jamie," she whispered. "With you in my life I feel that everything will work out–that everything I ever wanted is attainable. You make me feel powerful and strong and vital. You’ve made my dreams come true."

  Overcome with emotion, Jamie couldn’t reply with words. With trembling lips she showed her lover how much her beautiful words meant to her. Their tender kisses continued to speak for their souls, long past the insistent chirping of the alarm clock.

  After waking up to such blissful happiness, Ryan was uncharacteristically grumpy on her morning run with the volleyball team. She had been forced to rush to get there on time, and had never gotten into a good groove, probably because she hadn’t been able to warm up properly. She was lying on a small patch of grass in front of the football stadium, trying to stretch her long body out when Jordan came over to sit beside her.

  "Question," Jordan said, in her usual clipped manner.

  "Shoot," the dark woman said, cocking her head slightly.

  "You wanna room together?"

  Ryan frowned slightly, puzzled as to why Jordan would want to wrap up this little detail at this point of the year. She felt pretty confident that Jordan didn’t want to make a move on her, but she still had enough doubts that she wasn’t really ready to make a season-long commitment yet. "Gee, Jordan," she kidded, hoping to put off the decision. "Pretty early to be thinking about road trips, isn’t it?"

  Now Jordan looked puzzled. "We leave on the eighth, Ryan. That’s the end of the week, if they haven’t changed the calendar recently. They’re making room assignments today."

  "What!?" Ryan exclaimed, causing the other players to stare at her. She consciously lowered her voice to a more normal level. "We don’t have a road trip for weeks!"

  "Call it what you will–road trip, training camp–all I know is that we leave at the end of the week. No big deal if you don’t want to room with me, Ryan. I just want to know..."

  "Jordan, what in the hell are you talking about?" Ryan was getting quite agitated, and it showed in her voice as well as her demeanor.

  The tall blonde sighed heavily and explained as she would to a child. "We leave for our volleyball training camp on Sunday, Ryan. Haven’t you been paying attention at all?"

  Jumping to her feet Ryan cried, "I had no idea we had a camp. Nobody told me one damned thing about it!" />
  "Uh-huh," Jordan nodded blithely, "I just told you, so the problem’s solved."

  "It most certainly is not!" Ryan retorted. "I have commitments, and plans…I can’t just take of for…where in the hell are we taking off for, anyway?"

  "Santa Cruz," Jordan supplied.

  "I can’t just take off for Santa Cruz with no warning!"

  She was really fuming now, and Jordan didn’t even try to calm her down, preferring to wait her out. Ryan stomped around in a small circle, muttering to herself until her anger had abated. She finally stopped and looked at Jordan accusingly, "Why didn’t you say something?"

  "Me? Last time I checked I’m not the coach, the assistant coach, or the student manager. Take it up with them, pal."

  Dropping to the ground in defeat, Ryan held her head in her hands, muttering, "This is what I get for trying to play a sport when I’m 23 years old. They treat me like I have no life outside of volleyball…and I do, damn it, I do!"

  Jordan finally let some compassion show for her friend, and she placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you’ve really got a conflict, talk to Coach about it. He’s very easy to get along with."

  "No," Ryan grumbled. "I don’t really have a conflict. I just don’t want to be away from Jamie. How long is this damn thing, anyway?"

  "Just a week," Jordan informed her. "You’ll hardly know you’re apart."

  Smirking, Ryan corrected her. "It bothers me to go to work without her, and that’s only for three hours."

  "Ooh, right," she winced. "Forgot about that conjoined twin thing you two have going."

  "Well, enough of my bitching," Ryan declared.

  "You still didn’t answer my question," Jordan reminded her.

  "Oh, right. Sure. No problem. I’d love to room with you," she decided, realizing that she had to make the decision quicker than she wished. "You don’t snore, do you?"

  "I’ve never had any complaints," she said blithely as she sauntered off.

  "Hey," Ryan mumbled, falling into one of the kitchen chairs with a thump.

  Looking up from the newspaper, Jamie gave her a puzzled look and asked, "What’s wrong, Honey?"

  "Do you want to go to Rhode Island on Sunday?"

  "Huh? I thought we decided I’d go the week before school started."

  "We did," she said, a definite pout forming. "But that was before I knew that I had to go to Santa Cruz for a week starting on Sunday."

  "Santa Cruz, what on earth is in Santa Cruz?"

  "Apparently, the team goes there for a week to start training. Believe me, Hon, it was news to me."

  Pushing her chair from the table, Jamie walked over to Ryan and climbed aboard her lap. "You poor thing," she soothed, giving her a generous hug.

  "Me? Why am I a poor thing? I thought you’d be angry that our plans got screwed up."

  "Of course I’m not angry," she protested, surprised that Ryan would assume such a thing. "I feel bad for you because I know you don’t like being away from home for that long. It sounds like it will be a lot of work, and you won’t have me there to baby you. That’s why you’re a poor thing," she gently teased, pinching Ryan’s cheek.

  Giving her a huge smile, Ryan said, "You are, by far, the best girlfriend in the whole world."

  "No, you are," Jamie insisted, getting in a tickle on her ribs.

  They wrestled for a few minutes, finally calling a draw when it started to get a little too rough. "Do you think you can arrange your trip this quickly?" Ryan asked.

  "Oh sure. We fly into Boston. There are quite a few daily flights, so there shouldn’t be a problem. I guess I’ll call Mother and let her know I’m coming, huh?"

  Ryan tossed her arms around her waist and gave her a hug that felt as desperate as it did fond. Burying her face in Jamie’s neck she whispered, "I don’t want you to go."

  "Oh, Sweetheart, I don’t want to go, either. But at least this way you’ll be really busy. You’ll hardly have time to miss me."

  Looking up at Jamie with a fragile look in her vivid blue eyes, she heartily disagreed. "I’ll always have time to miss you, Jamie. You’re the best part of every day of my life."

  "You are the sweetest, most loving person I’ve ever known, Ryan. Being with you is so much better than I could have ever imagined." They were wrapped around each other so tightly that it was difficult for Jamie to take a deep breath. Pulling back a little, she tugged at Ryan’s wet T-shirt and suggested, "Let’s go upstairs and take two showers."

  "You don’t want to take one together?"

  "Of course I do," she affirmed, sliding off and extending a hand to help her partner up.

  "Then why two?"

  She tossed her arms around Ryan’s neck and pulled her down so that she could whisper into her ear. "One is to get clean…two is to get clean after we get dirty. And we’re going to get very…very…dirty."

  Taking her hand, Ryan immediately started for the stairs, commenting, "I don’t know how you come up with these fantastic ideas, but you are truly a genius!"

  Catherine was very pleased by Jamie’s change of plans, since they would be able to fly to Rhode Island together. The older woman offered to make all of the travel arrangements, and Jamie agreed to let her. Now the only item remaining was to spend as much time with Ryan as possible to store up enough hugs and kisses to last for an entire week.

  The Friday team run was cancelled to give the players an extra day of rest before training camp began. Since Ryan would not have to go across the bridge during rush hour, they decided to go back to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. Jamie played golf that afternoon at Olympic, and didn’t arrive home until after six. Going downstairs, she nearly tripped over the stroller on the landing. Ohhh, Caitlin’s here, she thought happily.

  She dashed down the stairs and was just about to call out when she spotted the baby and Ryan lying on the bed, sound asleep. Oh my God, this is just too precious. I’ve got to get a picture.

  Ryan was in her bright white underwear, lying on her right side with her knees drawn up a little. Her left arm was draped across the baby, who was nestled tightly up against her, her posture a baby-like imitation of her big cousin’s. She was in just her diaper and was also on her right side. Her little back was supported by Ryan’s chest and her left arm hung over the bigger one that cradled her body.

  Jamie crept across the room as quietly as she could and found her camera. She turned off the flash to avoid waking them and moved around until she could perfectly capture both of their peaceful faces. The late afternoon sun was still warming their bodies and creating deep shadows across the bed. With the flash off she was able to take several pictures without waking the pair. She moved around the room stealthily, trying to capture the simple beauty of their slumber. She knew that Ryan would wake soon, since she seemed to have a sense for when Jamie was in the room, but she cherished every moment of her intense observation. It was so rare to find Ryan asleep and her expression unguarded that she went over to the loveseat and sat down to just gaze at them. When she caught the first vague stirrings of awareness moving through her lover’s body, she turned on the flash and took several more quick shots, then she laid the camera down and crawled into bed behind her. Snuggling up to the warm back, she rested her face on the smooth skin as she felt her partner begin to fully wake up.

  "I feel like I’ve been drugged," Ryan mumbled sleepily.

  "When did the baby get here?" Jamie asked.

  "Tommy paged me when I was still at work. He got called in to work, and Maeve wasn’t home. So I went and got her at about 3:30."

  "What did my two favorite babies do all afternoon?"

  "She wanted to play her favorite game of ‘try to kill Ryan by running up the hills in my jogger,’ so we did that for about 45 minutes. Then we played in the yard with Duffy. We came down here at about 5:30."

  "Ryan," she asked thoughtfully, drawing little patterns on the smooth skin right in front of her. "How did you know she wanted to run in the hills?"

  "Oh, y
ou can just tell. We communicate nonverbally, but it’s just as effective," she replied airily.

  Just then they heard the front door open. "You guys there?" Conor called.

  It was a measure of her comfort in their home that Jamie answered for them. "Yeah, we’re all down here."

  Since their open door was visible from the landing, he went down, but stopped in the doorway. "Can I come in?" he asked rather hesitantly.

  "Sure," Jamie replied quietly. "We’re helping Caitlin take a nap."

  He took in the tableau of the three on the bed and shook his head. "I hate to get all mushy," he said, "but this is about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I should take a picture of you three."

  "My camera’s right on the loveseat," Jamie informed him, "but I’m so overdressed," she teased as she snapped the waistband of Ryan’s boxers.

  "Good point," Conor replied sagely. "I’ll wait..."

  "Take the picture while you still have fingers that work," Ryan threatened.

  "Yet another good point, Sis," he laughed as he snapped a few. "Hey, aren’t you on dinner duty tonight?"

  "Looks like takeout," Jamie suggested. "What sounds good?"

  "Italian combos," the siblings said in unison.

  "I don’t know why I bother to ask," she complained aggrievedly. "Are you sure you’re Irish?"

  "The Irish are just Italians with bad weather, bad food and no opera," Ryan confidently informed her.

  "Don’t forget the pubs," Conor reminded her.

  "I didn’t forget the pubs," Ryan insisted. "The Italian version of the pub is the espresso bar," she elaborated. "We could have had espresso too, but we need the pubs to have someplace to drink away the rain."

  After the adults had finished their combos and Caitlin had consumed her brown mystery meat with carrots and peas, they walked her home since her parents were both due home by seven.

  Jamie decided that this was a perfect time to bring up the subject of a small vacation for Tommy and Annie, and she and Ryan discussed the particulars during their walk.